SB64 ends in delay and division as Pacific now looks to a crowded agenda at COP31

The June Climate Meetings in Bonn, Germany (SB64), ended in a state of delay and division, with a dangerous weakening of climate ambition at a time when the Pacific is experiencing accelerating climate impacts. Major negotiating tracks failed to yield meaningful agreements, forcing critical decisions on mitigation, adaptation, finance, and a just transition to the upcoming COP31 summit in Türkiye.

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SB64 will be remembered as a negotiation that deferred rather than decided. For Pacific people, every delay means more lives disrupted, more communities at risk and a narrowing pathway to 1.5°C.

For Pacific communities already grappling with the consequences of the climate crisis, this outcome represents further delay when urgent action is most needed. SB64 also highlighted growing rifts within the negotiations. These include attempts to diminish the role of scientific evidence in climate decision-making, persistent resistance to providing climate finance at the required scale, and an expanding disconnect between political pronouncements and the harsh climate reality.

As the path to COP31 begins, the Pacific Islands Climate Action Network (PICAN) warns that trust is eroding while the workload intensifies. The responsibility now rests with COP31 to deliver what SB64 could not. The international community cannot afford to approach another climate conference with the same unresolved issues and expect different results.

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What concerns us most is not only the lack of outcomes, but the growing willingness to sideline science, soften accountability and postpone responsibility. Negotiating the science of climate change won’t delay the truth of the crisis upon us.

Dr. Sindra Sharma, International Policy Lead at PICAN, stated that SB64 "will be remembered as a negotiation that deferred rather than decided." She emphasized that for Pacific peoples, "every delay means more lives disrupted, more communities at risk and a narrowing pathway to 1.5°C." Sharma expressed particular concern over the "growing willingness to sideline science, soften accountability and postpone responsibility," asserting that "negotiating the science of climate change won’t delay the truth of the crisis upon us."

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The Pacific came to Bonn defending science because science is our floor of consequence. Without it, ambition becomes optional and justice becomes negotiable. We reject both.

Sharma concluded by urging a shift from "managing the politics of climate change" to "addressing the reality of it." She stressed that the Pacific demands action commensurate with the crisis's scale, recognizing that the window for effective intervention is rapidly closing. PICAN rejects any approach that makes ambition optional or justice negotiable, insisting that "science is our floor of consequence."

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As we head towards COP31, we must stop managing the politics of climate change and start addressing the reality of it. The Pacific is demanding action that matches the scale of the crisis in full recognition that the window to deliver is narrowing. Fast.